Journey of the Heart: Chapter 2 - Lost
DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha and his companions are not mine to own.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kagome felt nothing--literally. None of her senses seemed to be working except sight, but even that meant little. Colors and swirling forms danced around her as she slipped further into something--or nothing. She wasn't sure. She couldn't even tell if she was moving, or if the world was moving around her.
She tried to extend her arms in hopes of slowing herself, but her body refused to respond. If her ears could have detected sound, or her flesh experienced touch she would have heard and felt her heart beating with wild abandon.
Kagome had become accustomed, if not comfortable, with traveling through the well. And while her current situation fell in the same general category, it was still drastically different. She had never felt this out of control before--not even when being drug into the well the first time by Mistress Centipede.
At least that time it was not long before she had Inuyasha at her side. It was true their relationship wasn't what you would have called smooth at first, nor had it ever really become so, but his presence always made her feel safe. Without him now, she felt particularly alone.
'I wanted time away from him after our talk, but now I just wish I could see him again.' With nothing left to do but think, her mind presented her with devastating thoughts. 'But what if he doesn't want to see me again? Maybe that is the reason he didn't get to me in time.'
As dark thoughts threatened to consume her, something drew her attention to her lower body.
Encircling her waist was an arm--partially covered in fur. For a moment, she thought she was being attacked by a youkai without even being able to feel it. If she could have parted her lips to scream, she would have, but then she recognized the arm. It belonged to the wolf prince, Kouga.
She was surprised by just how comforting that knowledge was. In a normal situation their close proximity would make her blush, but instead, a wave of relief washed over her.
With her negativity pushed to the background she began to analyze their situation. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since they had been pulled into the vortex. Time seemed to have as little meaning as sensation.
'Is this leading somewhere, or will we need to find our way out from inside the vortex itself? It doesn't feel like traveling through the well, so maybe it goes to a different place instead of a different time. That makes sense--but where?
'Am I imagining this, or are the colors becoming muted? Oh no! Maybe my vision is going to stop working too!' Kagome tried to calm herself, and as the racing heart she couldn't feel slowed, she noticed the unidentifiable forms were starting to become more recognizable, and the colors more realistic.
Then in a flood of sensory input, she felt wet grass brush against her knees, and a cool breeze blowing across her face. She could smell the sweet natural scent of the forest, and the spicier musky scent of the man pressed against her back. She could feel the warmth of his chest, and the comforting pressure of his arms wrapped around her.
She became dizzy from the sudden onset of sensation, and Kouga was no better off. He had never experienced passing through the well before, so nothing could have prepared him for the journey they had just taken. When his heightened senses returned to him so suddenly, it felt like his head would explode.
He reflexively tightened his grip on Kagome to ground himself, and she gasped at the unexpected constriction.
"K-Kouga?" a nervous Kagome stammered.
"Kagome, my love, I'm sorry." He relaxed his arms, but did not remove them. "Did I hurt you?" Concern was evident in his voice.
"No, I was just off guard," she said timidly, very aware of their closeness. Kagome took his large hands in her small ones. Kouga's heart raced momentarily, but then sank as he felt her removing herself from his grasp.
'All that time spent so close to her, and yet unable to feel any of it. It hardly seems like a fair reward for playing the part of a hero,' he mused. 'Although a better hero would probably have saved the girl, not been pulled in with her.'
He watched as she rose to her feet, and scanned their new surroundings.
"So, where are we?" he asked with false hope, already knowing neither of them had an answer.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"WHERE IS SHE!?" Inuyasha roared at the spider youkai, while blasting her with his Kaza no Kizu.
Deflecting the onslaught, the spider snidely retorted, "If you kill me, you will destroy any hope you have of reclaiming her!"
"There are worse things than death!" Inuyasha yelled as he propelled himself at the spider with awesome force. His blade savagely cut at her legs.
From the sidelines, Sango helped a weakened Miroku to his feet. "I think Inuyasha is going through something worse than death now," he said almost to himself.
Once he was standing, he shifted his weight to his staff to relieve Sango. He could tell she was suffering enough without him being an additional burden--not that you could tell from her reserved countenance.
"Kaaaaaaaaagoooome!" Shippo wailed between choked out tears. His head was pressed against her backpack. His tiny hands were balled into fists, which he used to pound its contents.
Sango scooped the small boy into her arms, and held him reassuringly as Kagome would have done if she had been there. The demon-fighter watched Inuyasha savagely take his pain out on the youkai. Years of battle experience and loss had hardened her exterior, but inside she felt lost without her best friend. Kagome had become like a sister, and Sango was crushed at the thought of losing even more family.
Biting the inside of her bottom lip, she steeled herself against the emotions she felt welling up. There was a battle being waged, and this was no time for weakness. She needed to be watching for an opening to assist Inuyasha. Besides, it was too soon to give up on Kagome.
She felt Miroku's hand resting on her back, and she was grateful for the comfort it provided. She was equally grateful that it remained on her upper back.
The battle between hanyou and youkai raged on. Blood was being spilled at an alarming rate, and one of the spider's legs was lying only a few meters away.
Miroku continued to watch the horrifying display as he mentally debated over a plan of action. 'The spider said we would be unable to rescue Kagome, if we killed her. It may have been a bluff, but we can hardly afford to take chances with Kagome's life.'
"Inuyasha, you must stop!" Miroku called out.
There was another furious swing of Tetsusaiga at the spider's abdomen--he was not listening.
'We must do something to get his attention.' He turned to Sango, "Can you throw Hiraikotsu to separate them without hitting either?"
"Hai!" She was happy to put her mind into the fight, and launched the giant boomerang toward the combatants--successfully causing Inuyasha to fall back.
Enraged eyes fixed themselves on Sango and Miroku. "What the HELL do you think you're doing?" he snarled. For a moment, Miroku thought they would need to defend themselves from their increasingly red-eyed friend.
"Inuyasha, she may be our only hope of getting Kagome back. You must not kill her." Miroku's voice and disposition remained miraculously calm as a very intense hanyou stared him down.
"That thing took Kagome away." Inuyasha's voice was rough, but Miroku could hear it crack as he spoke. 'After I pushed her away,' Inuyasha's thoughts added, increasing the guilt he already felt.
The group continued to argue, ignoring the youkai they were debating so hotly. Having three of her legs clawed from her body impaired her ability to remain standing so she was now lying in an increasingly large puddle of her own blood.
Nonetheless, Shippo stood sentry over the fallen spider. The beautiful female face looked anguished as she attempted to flee by haltingly dragging her large arachnid body with the remaining legs.
Before the issue could be debated further, or more precisely, before Inuyasha could go back to hacking away at the remaining legs, a blustery wind swept up around them.
"Kagura!" Sango shouted, raising her hiraikotsu. She attacked the wind witch, but before the weapon made contact--Kagura unleashed her dance of the blades--sending the hiraikotsu violently back to its master.
Miroku pulled her out of the way before it hit, but fell into Inuyasha in the process. The pile of unlikely warriors struggled to right themselves, in a scene that would have been comical if the situation had not been so dire.
Kagura used the power of a jewel shard to return the injured youkai to the size of a common spider. She then secured the now tiny spider, and departed atop her oversized feather.
"Terribly sorry, but I'll have to postpone this fight. We have places to be. Ta," Kagura taunted haughtily.
"NO! KAGURA!" Inuyasha shoved past Miroku and Sango, and ran at break-neck speed in the direction Kagura had gone.
"Wait Inuyasha!" Sango called, but it was no use.
"He is as single-minded as ever, and at the pace he is going we needed to follow quickly if we hoped to catch up," Miroku assessed.
Moments later, the three remaining members of the group were astride Kirara, trusting her youkai senses to lead them to Inuyasha, and hopefully, Kagome.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I was kind of hoping you would know where we were." Kagome replied to his question, wishing she had the answer.
"It looks familiar, but I'm sure I've never been here before. I can't sense any wolves or wolf youkai nearby." Kouga strained his senses attempting to smell, see, or hear anything that might give him a clue to where they were.
They seemed to be in a nondescript forest clearing. They stood in a wide expanse of tall soft grass. In the distance to the north was a single mountain spiraling upwards, and surrounding them was a thicket of trees. It was all clearly recognizable, and totally foreign at the same time.
Except for the surprising lack of animals, youkai and people--nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
'Great, first I can't save her from a little vortex, and now I can't even tell her where we are, or which direction home is!' Kouga thought in exasperation as his efforts came out empty. 'No wonder she seemed so fed up in our previous encounter.
'Perhaps if I scout around I'll come across something that will tell me more. But I can't leave Kagome undefended. She will have to come with me.' Without a word, he scooped the time-displaced miko into his arms bridal style, and took off.
"Kouga!" she shouted with equal parts shock and hostility.
He tilted his head down toward the girl, but he retained his pace, seemingly oblivious to her anger. "Yes, my love?"
Through tightly clenched teeth, Kagome growled out, "PUT…ME…DOWN…NOW!" putting additional emphasis on each successive word.
Too surprised to argue, Kouga stopped his shard-powered sprint, and quickly, but gently, allowed her to stand. "Is something wrong?" he asked with obvious concern and confusion. "Are you injured?"
His eyes darted around her exposed limbs, seeing only minor scarps and bruises from the previous battle.
Kagome released an aggravated sigh. "I'm not hurt Kouga, but I can walk on my own." She was still a little irritated, but his bright blue eyes showed only the best of intentions in his actions, and she couldn't stay mad for long.
"I know you can. You are an extremely strong woman--that is why I have chosen you as my mate," he replied honestly.
A strange feeling passed over her at his words. She was incredibly touched at such a compliment coming from someone who valued strength so highly.
"However, your speed is not of the same caliber, and I thought it best to get the lay of the land before I decided what our next course of action would be," he finished unwisely.
"Before you decide?" Her eyes narrowed, waiting for an explanation from the flustered wolf prince.
"That is my duty as your protector, my love." Kouga could not explain why her mood kept changing, but he had seen enough male wolf youkai sleeping outside their dens to know he should be careful with an angry female.
"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!" She shouted at the top of her lungs at a wide-eyed Kouga.
"Stop what, my love?" he ventured to inquire.
"THAT! Everything is 'my love this and my woman that' with you! You are always taking my hand, or picking me up, or touching me! And now you are making decisions for me too? You never ask what I want!
"I barely even know you," she continued hotly. "The first time we met you kidnapped me, and since then the only thing you do is fight with Inuyasha! I can't tell which of us you are more obsessed with sometimes!"
"I am not obsessed with Dog boy!" he shot back.
"Dog boy? How old are you? I thought you were a prince. Shouldn't you be challenging him to a civilized duel at least? Slapping his face with your glove, and walking so many paces away before facing each other after high tea?" Kagome realized she was sounding increasingly irrational, but after a day with so many emotional upheavals she wasn't about to back down.
Kouga drew breath to speak, but found himself quite dumbfounded at Kagome's last question. "Glove?" he finally managed.
"Oh, never mind, I never did like those movies anyway." She plopped herself on the ground, pulling her knees to her chest, and lying her face against them. He couldn't see her eyes because her hair was cascading over her face and shoulders, but he could hear a soft defeated whimper, and it pained him.
"My…er…Kagome, it was never my intention to upset you." He crouched down, and reached out a hand to comfort her, but withdrew it as he remembered her heated words. "I will not touch you, or refer to you as my love or my woman until you want me to."
He heard her sniffle, and though it made his face scrunch up into a contorted grimace he added, "And I won't call Do...Inuyasha any more names."
Kagome lifted her head, and saw the sincerity reflected in Kouga's strong features. His glistening eyes were watching her intently, so she tried to smile for him, but it was a weak effort at best.
The tears that had been threatening to fall since her encounter with Inuyasha in the woods were now overcoming her. She had held them back throughout the fight, and had tried to be strong while passing through the vortex, but it was all too much.
It was times like these she desperately wished she could go back to being a normal high school girl. She longed for a life where her biggest concern was getting a passing grade in math class, or finding the right dress to wear to a school dance.
Admitting that to herself made her feel even worse, because it would mean giving up all the people who had become important to her in the past couple of years. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her breathing became ragged. Her shoulders trembled, and a low-key wail echoed from deep within her.
Gentle arms tentatively worked their way around her, and soon she found herself being softly rocked back and forth. Kagome knew she should stop him, but she needed to be held more, and she sank deeper into his embrace instead. She let her emotions flow unbidden until she wore herself out.
Kouga made a deep humming sound. The rumble relaxed her, and an exhausted Kagome found herself dipping into sleep.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Naraku watched the intertwined couple through Kanna's mirror with a twisted smile upon his cold lips.
'This is certainly an interesting development. I had not planned on Kouga's involvement, but I may turn this to my advantage. After all, I was going to need to acquire him eventually for his two remaining shards. This should ensure my possession of them, and perhaps provide me with some amusement,' Naraku thought smugly.
His chamber door was thrown open and Kagura strode inside unceremoniously depositing the shrunken spider in front of Naraku.
"I brought the spider back like you wanted," she stated, eyeing him expectantly.
The spider's body twitched, and blood was still spilling from the open wounds. Her face mouthed something too quiet to be heard, but Naraku nodded in her direction as though he understood.
Kagura tensed at the scene. She had long ago grown weary of doing Naraku's bidding while she was kept in the dark.
"This detachment was no match against Inuyasha. Why is she so important to your plans?" Kagura's red eyes radiated with barely constrained hatred for her master.
Naraku smiled inwardly at her futile attempt at defiance. "And Inuyasha?" He asked dismissively, without even acknowledging her question.
"As you requested, I was able to get ahead of him significantly without letting my trail become impossible to follow."
"Excellent. Begin preparations for our guests."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I struggled with this chapter more than I could have imagined. Many thanks to BelleDayNight for being a sounding board, and test reading it for me! Also, thanks to the people who have reviewed. I love me some reviews!